In February, the founders of notorious file-sharing having The Pirate Bay were ordered to pay out $675,000 to music labels; the money was intended to compensate the artists whose royalties had been depleted by piracy. Guess what? They're not going to see a dime.

The problem, as reported by Torrent Freak, is two-fold. First, it's been terrifically difficult to recover that money from the Pirate Bay defendants. No surprise there. But even if and when that money does get collected, it's already been promised to IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), an anti-piracy group. Sorry, musicians! You get nothing.

The biggest losers when music gets pirated are, without question, the artists. Regardless of how you feel about the dumbheadedness of the RIAA and the labels it represents, the people who actually depend on royalties for their livelihood have every right to be ticked when their songs are acquired through file-sharing channels. Which is why court decisions that take artist compensation into account are so welcome, and why it's so infuriating when record labels refuse to honor that intent.

It's not surprising that this would happen; the same thing happened when the RIAA shook down Limewire for $104 million last year. But that doesn't make it any less disappointing. [TorrentFreak]

Update: The RIAA correctly points out that some of the Limewire settlement did, in fact, end up going to artists as intended.